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Last time we spoke about the Great Tokyo Air Raid. Amidst fierce battles, Liversedge's forces captured key hills but faced relentless Japanese machine-gun fire. Despite heavy casualties, the Marines advanced, securing strategic positions. General Kuribayashi recognized their struggle, while the Japanese counterattacks faltered. After 19 grueling days, the last pockets of resistance fell, marking a costly victory for the Americans. Amid the fierce battle of Iwo Jima, General LeMay shifted tactics, launching incendiary raids on Tokyo. On March 9, 1945, 334 B-29s unleashed destruction, igniting widespread fires and devastating neighborhoods. The attack shattered Japanese morale, while LeMay's strategy proved effective, paving the way for further offensives in the Pacific. On March 3, three brigades attacked Meiktila, facing fierce resistance. Tanks overwhelmed Japanese forces, resulting in heavy casualties. As Cowan fortified defenses, Japanese counterattacks intensified. Meanwhile, in Mandalay, British-Indian troops advanced, capturing key positions. Amidst confusion and conflicting orders, the Allies pressed forward, striving for victory in Burma. This episode is the Fall of Mandalay Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945. We are first picking up this week with the men fighting over northern Luzon. By March 5, General Clarkson's 33rd Division had advanced to Agoo and Pago while gradually pushing the enemy along Route 11. Meanwhile, Colonel Volckmann's guerrilla force was carrying out limited offensives in the Laoag, Cervantes, and San Fernando regions. Coming into Salacsac Pass from the west, the Villa Verde Trail twists up the wooded western slopes of a steep-sided height known to the 32nd Division as Hill 502. Another peak, bare crested, forming part of the same hill mass and named Hill 503, centers 250 yards northeast of the crest of Hill 502, while a similar distance to the southeast is Hill 504. Winding along the southern slopes of Hills 502 and 504, the trail continues eastward through a low saddle about 500 yards long, climbing again up the forested northwestern side of Hill 505. After crossing that hill, the trail follows a twisting course 600 yards--as the crow flies--eastward, hugging the densely wooded northern slopes of Hills 506A and 506B. Off the northeast corner of Hill 506B the trail turns south for 1000 yards--again a straight-line distance--and traverses the east side of the noses of Hill 507, designated from north to south A, B, C and D. Turning sharply east again near Hill 507D, the trail continues east another 700 yards and then enters a deep wooded saddle between Hill 508 on the south and Hill 515 to the north. After passing through this saddle, which is about 250 yards long east to west, the trail goes on eastward, dominated on the north by Hills 516 and 525. Roughly 1250 yards beyond the saddle the trail twists across the northern slopes of Hill 526, which lying about 500 yards southeast of Hill 525, marks the eastern limits of the Salacsac Pass area. A mile and a quarter of less rugged but still forested and difficult terrain lies between Hill 526 and barrio Imugan, in turn two and a quarter miles west of Santa Fe. Meanwhile General Mullins' 25th Division had successfully taken control of Puncan and Digdig. Due to this unexpectedly swift progress, General Swift instructed Mullins to continue advancing toward Putlan while the 1st Battalion, 127th Regiment fought for control of Hill 502, which was secured on March 7. In response, Mullins dispatched the 161st Regiment to attack the high ground west of Route 5, the 27th Regiment to advance along and east of the highway, and the 35th Regiment to execute a wide envelopment to the east. Since this last flank approach to Putlan was completely undefended, the 1st Battalion, 35th Regiment quickly occupied Putlan on March 8. The following day, the 27th Regiment also arrived in the area and began clearing Japanese stragglers from the ravines east of Route 5 near the barrio, a task that would not be finished until March 15. Finally, despite facing rough terrain and light resistance, the 161st Regiment reached Putlan on March 10, successfully securing the high ground to the west. To the north, as the 1st Battalion, 127th Regiment struggled to make significant progress eastward after capturing Hill 502, Gill decided to send the 3rd Battalion, 127th Regiment to outflank the Salacsac Pass defenses from the south. Although the extremely rough, precipitous mountain country of the Salacsac Pass area, averaging 4500 feet above sea level, was covered by dense rainforest, from Hill 506B to Hill 526, there was sufficient open ground throughout to provide the defender with excellent observation. It was not too difficult for the Japanese to find positions whence they could cover with fire every square foot of the Villa Verde Trail through the pass area. The twisting of the trail also provided defense opportunities, for in a given 1000 yards of straight-line distance through the pass, the trail might actually cover a ground distance of 3000 yards. Whatever its shortcomings in other fields, the Japanese Army always had a feel for terrain, exploiting to the full every advantage the ground offered. Thus, as it moved up, the 2nd Tank Division set to work to establish a system of mutually supporting defensive positions in order to control every twist of the Villa Verde Trail and every fold in the ground throughout the pass area. Every knoll and hillock on or near the trail was the site of at least one machine gun emplacement; every wooded draw providing a route for outflanking a position was zeroed in for artillery or mortars. The cave, natural or man-made, came to characterize the defenses. Artillery was employed in quantity and quality not often encountered in engagements against the Japanese, who, as usual, made excellent use of their light and medium mortars. Finally, the 2nd Tank Division was overstocked in automatic weapons, evidently having available many more than the 32nd Division could bring to bear. To the west, following recent successes in patrols, Clarkson opted to establish a new "secure line" stretching from Aringay southeast through Pugo to Route 11 at Twin Peaks. Consequently, patrols quickly secured Aringay and Caba without facing any opposition, then advanced east along the trails to Pugo and Galiano, and north to Bauang, where they continued to encounter minimal enemy presence. As a result of these movements, the Hayashi Detachment was ultimately withdrawn to bolster the main defenses at Sablan, enabling Volckman's 121st Regiment to enter San Fernando on March 14. Additionally, elements of the 19th Division began arriving in the Cervantes area from Baguio and successfully expelled the guerrilla company from the town in early March. The Filipinos recaptured Cervantes on March 13 but soon found themselves targeted by Japanese artillery positioned on elevated ground. Meanwhile, looking south, by March 5, General Patrick's 6th Division had commenced unsuccessful assaults on Mounts Pacawagan and Mataba, while General Hoffman's 2nd Cavalry Brigade struggled to advance toward the Antipolo area. Recognizing that the success of his attack required a concentration of forces along a narrower front, General Griswold decided to focus on the Noguchi Force and the left flank of the Kobayashi Force, as the northern area was heavily fortified. He retained only one battalion as an infantry reserve and directed the remainder of his available forces, all of which were understrength, to push eastward. Alongside the deployment of the 1st Cavalry Brigade, the 103rd Regiment reached Taytay on March 7 to serve as the 1st Cavalry Division Reserve, signaling the upcoming relief of the cavalrymen in preparation for their redeployment to southern Luzon. By March 10, General Wing's 43rd Division had been replaced in the Clark Field area by the 38th Division and was en route to the eastern front. The 38th Division pushed on into the untracked, ill-explored, and worse-mapped wilderness of the central Zambales Range, its progress slowed more by supply problems than Japanese resistance. In early April the division noted that the last vestiges of any controlled defensive effort had disappeared. Unknown to 11th Corps General Tsukada, on April 6, had given up and had ordered his remaining forces to disperse and continue operations, if possible, as guerrillas. For the Japanese remnants, it was a case of sauve qui peut. Some tried to escape to Luzon's west coast, whence 38th Division troops were already patrolling inland; others tried to make their way north through the mountains, only to be cut down by American patrols working southward from Camp O'Donnell. The 38th Division had killed about 8000 of the scattering Japanese by the time it was relieved by units of the 6th Division on May 3. The losses of the 38th totaled approximately 100 men killed and 500 wounded. The 6th Division, elements of which remained in the Kembu area until June 25, limited its operations to patrolling and setting up trail blocks along Japanese routes of escape. Troops of the 38th Division ultimately returned to the region and remained there until the end of the war. Insofar as US forces were concerned, the mop-up period under 11th Corps control was even more costly than had been the 14th Corps' offensive period. From February 21 to the end of June the various elements of 11th Corps committed to action against the Kembu Group lost approximately 550 men killed and 2200 wounded. The Kembu Group, during the same period, lost 12500 killed or dead from starvation and disease. By the end of the war the original 30000 troops of the Kembu Group were reduced to approximately 1500 sorry survivors, about 1000 of them Army personnel. Another 500 had already been taken prisoner. As a result, General Tsukada ordered his remaining troops to scatter and operate as guerrillas. Meanwhile, Griswold resumed his eastern offensive on March 8. In the south, bolstered by artillery and mortars, the battered 2nd Cavalry Brigade continued to advance slowly under heavy artillery fire, reaching a point 440 yards short of Antipolo along Route 60A and overcoming the enemy cave defenses at Benchmark 11. By March 11, patrols had entered Antipolo, discovering the town was devastated and deserted, yet still under the threat of Japanese artillery and mortars positioned in the hills to the north and northeast. Simultaneously, the 1st Cavalry Brigade made significant strides to the north, also coming within 440 yards of Antipolo while clearing Benchmark 9 Hill and Hills 520 and 740. Abandoning the Montalban-San Mateo area, Patrick instructed the 1st and 20th Regiments to advance toward Mounts Baytangan and Yabang. Facing unexpectedly light resistance, the 1st Regiment advanced a mile and a half east by March 11 and secured Benchmark 8 Hill to the south despite encountering stubborn opposition. Recognizing the need to capitalize on this success, Patrick then ordered the 20th Regiment to move through the 1st and attack north toward Wawa Dam while the latter continued its eastward assault. On March 11, the 103rd Regiment took over from the 2nd Cavalry Brigade and quickly began planning to outflank General Noguchi's defenses located southeast of Antipolo. However, due to concerns over American advances, General Yokoyama ordered the Noguchi Force to retreat to secondary defensive positions while preparing for a three-pronged counterattack set for March 12. The primary effort involved four reserve battalions from the Kobayashi Force, which launched an attack southward from Mount Mataba toward Marikina but were quickly halted by intense air and artillery fire, falling far short of their target. Additionally, the 182nd Independent Battalion attempted a counterattack toward Benchmark 8 but was unsuccessful, while the majority of the Kawashima Force advanced south from the Ipo Dam area to assault the rear installations of the 6th Division west of the Marikina River, where they were easily repelled by March 15. During this so-called counterattack, Griswold continued his offensive, with the 103rd Regiment swiftly advancing through the deserted Antipolo to Benchmark 7 Hill, and the 20th Regiment moving over a mile north to secure a position on a grassy ridge less than a mile southeast of Mount Mataba's summit. On March 14, the 1st Regiment resumed its eastern assault, successfully advancing north to a bare peak about a mile southwest of Mount Baytangan, despite facing strong resistance that caused heavy casualties, including the loss of General Patrick, who was succeeded by Brigadier-General Charles Hurdis as commander of the 6th Division. Simultaneously, Wing initiated a coordinated offensive with two regiments toward Mounts Yabang, Caymayuman, and Tanauan, aiming to flank the Shimbu Group's left. Although the 103rd and 179th Regiments achieved significant progress that day, Noguchi's determined defenders managed to maintain control of Benchmark 7. Looking further south, Griswold was preparing to launch a two-pronged offensive in southern Luzon. General Swing's 511th Parachute Regiment and the 187th Glider Regiment were set to advance towards Lipa from the north and northwest, while the 158th Regiment gathered near Nasugbu to attack southeast along Route 17 toward Balayan Bay. In response, Colonel Fujishige's Fuji Force had established several small positions in the area to prevent American forces from flanking the Shimbu Group's main defenses by rounding the eastern shore of Laguna de Bay. Swing's offensive commenced on March 7, with the 187th Glider Regiment descending the steep southern slopes of Tagaytay Ridge to the northern shore of Lake Taal, ultimately stopping at a hill two miles west of Tanauan due to strong resistance. The 511th Parachute Regiment moved out from Real, reaching within a mile of Santo Tomas while launching unsuccessful frontal assaults on Mount Bijiang. Meanwhile, the 158th Regiment advanced from Nasugbu, quickly securing Balayan before pushing eastward with little opposition toward Batangas, which fell on March 11. On its eastward path, the regiment bypassed significant elements of the 2nd Surface Raiding Base Force on the Calumpan Peninsula, necessitating that a battalion clear that area by March 16. At the same time, other units of the 158th Regiment encountered robust Japanese defenses blocking Route 417 at Mount Macolod, where their advance came to a halt. Concurrently, General Eichelberger continued his offensive against the central islands of the Visayan Passages, with reinforced companies from the 1st Battalion, 19th Regiment successfully landing on Romblon and Simara islands on March 11 and 12, respectively. Most importantly for Eichelberger, he was about to initiate his Visayas Campaign. To disrupt Japanese communication lines across the South China Sea, the 8th Army needed to quickly capture airfields that would allow the Allied Air Forces to project land-based air power over the waters west of the Philippines more effectively than from Clark Field or Mindoro. Consequently, the first target chosen was Palawan, which was defended by only two reinforced companies from the 102nd Division. Additionally, MacArthur's strategy included the eventual reoccupation of the East Indies, starting with the capture of Japanese-controlled oil resources in northern Borneo as soon as land-based air support was available. The Zamboanga Peninsula and the Sulu Archipelago were identified as the second targets, although these areas were defended by stronger garrisons from the 54th and 55th Independent Mixed Brigades. Despite this, Eichelberger tasked Major-General Jens Doe's 41st Division with executing these invasions. For the Palawan invasion, codenamed Operation Victor III, Brigadier-General Harold Haney was appointed to lead a force primarily composed of the 186th Regiment, which would be transported to the island by Admiral Fechteler's Task Group 78.2. The convoy departed from Mindoro on February 26, escorted by Rear-Admiral Ralph Riggs' cruisers and destroyers. Following a naval bombardment, Haney's Palawan Force successfully landed at Puerto Princesa on February 28 without encountering any opposition. They quickly secured the town and the two airstrips to the east, advancing to the western and southern shores of the harbor by late afternoon to establish a defensive perimeter. As the first day progressed, it became clear to the American troops that the Japanese troops would not put up a fight at Puerto Princesa and had withdrawn into the hills to the northwest. More disturbing was the revelation of a massacre of approximately 140 American prisoners of war the previous December. The presence of a passing Allied convoy made the alarmed Japanese believe that an invasion was imminent and had herded their prisoners into air-raid shelters, subsequently setting the shelters afire and shooting prisoners who tried to escape. Only 11 American prisoners of war miraculously survived immolation and escaped the shooting. Sheltered by natives until the Americans landed, they emerged during the battle to tell their horrifying tale, which only hardened American resolve to end Japanese rule over the island. By March 1, the 186th Regiment had successfully taken control of Irahuan and Tagburos. In the following week, American forces would eliminate two or three heavily defended strongholds located ten miles north-northwest of Puerto Princesa, where the enemy garrison was ultimately defeated. The Palawan Force also conducted reconnaissance of several offshore islets, discovering no Japanese presence on some and swiftly clearing others. However, due to the poorly compacted soil, the new airfield on the island would not be operational until March 20, which was too late for any aircraft based in Palawan to assist with the Zamboanga landings. Consequently, on March 8, two reinforced companies from the 21st Regiment were flown to the airstrip at Dipolog, which had been secured by Colonel Hipolito Garma's guerrilla 105th Division. On the same day, sixteen Marine Corsairs arrived to provide air support for the invasion of Zamboanga, codenamed Operation Victor IV. For this operation, Doe assigned the remainder of his division, which was to be transported by Rear-Admiral Forrest Royal's Task Group 78.1. After three days of pre-assault bombardments and minesweeping, the convoy finally set sail southward and entered Basilan Strait from the west early on March 10. Troops from the 162nd Regiment landed almost without opposition around 09:15 near barrio San Mateo and quickly secured Wolfe Field, while the 163rd Regiment was also landing. Doe's two regiments then began to advance inland, facing minimal resistance as they established a night perimeter. With the Japanese having withdrawn, the 162nd and 163rd Regiments easily secured Zamboanga City, San Roque Airfield, and the rest of the coastal plain by dusk on March 11, with one company extending further to Caldera Bay to the west. To drive the Japanese forces from the elevated positions overlooking the airfield, Doe dispatched the 162nd Regiment towards Mount Capisan and the 163rd Regiment towards Mount Pulungbata. Additionally, the guerrilla 121st Regiment was tasked with blocking the east coast road in the Belong area. Supported by continuous artillery fire and close air support from Marine Corps planes, the two regiments of the 41st Division faced arduous tasks. General Hojo's troops held excellent defenses in depth across a front 5 miles wide, some portions of the line being 3 miles deep. All installations were protected by barbed wire; abandoned ground was thoroughly booby-trapped; mine fields, some of them of the remote-control type, abounded; and at least initially the 54th Independent Mixed Brigade had an ample supply of automatic weapons and mortars. While Japanese morale on the Zamboanga Peninsula was not on a par with that of 14th Area Army troops on Luzon, most of the 54th Independent Mixed Brigade and attached units had sufficient spirit to put up a strong fight as long as they held prepared positions, and Hojo was able to find men to conduct harassing counterattacks night after night. Finally, the terrain through which the 41st Division had to attack was rough and overgrown, giving way on the north to the rain forests of the partially unexplored mountain range forming the backbone of the Zamboanga Peninsula. Only poor trails existed in most of the area held by the Japanese, and the 41st Division had to limit its advance to the pace of bulldozers, which laboriously constructed supply and evacuation roads. Once the American troops entered the peninsula's foothills, tanks could not operate off the bulldozed roads. The next day, the 186th Regiment was deployed to relieve the fatigued 163rd Regiment on the eastern front. By the end of the month, it had expanded the front eastward and northward against diminishing resistance, ultimately forcing Hojo's forces to retreat into the rugged interior of the peninsula. For now, however, we will shift our focus from the Philippines to Burma to continue our coverage of the Chinese-British-Indian offensives. As we last observed, General Stopford's 33rd Corps was aggressively advancing into Mandalay against a weakened 15th Army, while General Cowan's 17th Indian Division had successfully captured Meiktila and was preparing to withstand the combined assaults of the 18th and 49th Divisions. Cowan's forces conducted a robust defense, managing to delay the arrival of the 49th Division until March 18 and successfully repelling General Naka's initial attacks on Meiktila's main airfield. Furthermore, with the reserve 5th Indian Division moving closer to the front in preparation for an advance towards Rangoon, General Slim decided to airlift the 9th Brigade to reinforce Cowan's troops, which landed on Meiktila's main airfield under enemy fire between March 15 and 17. Due to the slow progress on this front and General Katamura's preoccupation with the battles along the Irrawaddy, he was unable to manage the southern units simultaneously. Consequently, General Kimura decided to assign the 33rd Army to take over the fighting in Meiktila. General Honda promptly moved to Hlaingdet, where he was tasked with overseeing the 18th, 49th, and 53rd Divisions. On March 18, he ordered the 18th Division to secure the northern line of Meiktila and neutralize enemy airfields. He instructed the 49th Division to advance along the Pyawbwe-Meiktila road and directed the 53rd Division to regroup near Pyawbwe. However, on that same day, Cowan launched a counterattack by sending two tank-infantry columns to disrupt Japanese preparations along the Mahlaing road and in the villages of Kandaingbauk and Shawbyugan. They faced heavy resistance at Shawbyugan and ultimately had to withdraw. The relentless air assaults also compelled the Japanese to operate primarily at night, limiting their ability to respond with similar force to British offensives. On the night of March 20, Naka decided to initiate a significant attack on Meiktila's main airfield. However, with the 119th Regiment delayed at Shawbyugan, the 55th Regiment had to proceed alone, supported by some tanks, against the defenses of the 99th Brigade around Kyigon. Heavy artillery and mortar fire ultimately disrupted their assault. Meanwhile, as the 49th Division was consolidating its forces to the southeast, Cowan opted to send two tank-infantry columns to eliminate enemy concentrations at Nyaungbintha and Kinlu. Although the initial sweeps met little resistance, the 48th Brigade encountered strong Japanese positions at Shwepadaing on March 21. The next day, Cowan dispatched two tank-infantry columns to secure the Shwepadaing and Tamongan regions, but the British-Indian forces still struggled to eliminate the enemy defenders. That night, Lieutenant-General Takehara Saburo initiated his first significant assault, with the majority of the 106th Regiment targeting the defensive positions of the 48th Brigade in southeastern Meiktila. Despite the fierce and relentless attacks from the Japanese throughout the night, they were ultimately repelled by artillery and machine-gun fire, suffering heavy casualties. On March 23, Cowan sent another tank-infantry column to chase the retreating Japanese forces; however, the reformed 169th Regiment at Kinde successfully defended against this advance. Meanwhile, on the night of March 24, Naka launched another major offensive with the 55th and 119th Regiments, managing to capture Meiktila's main airfield. In response, Cowan quickly dispatched a tank-infantry column to clear the Mandalay road, successfully securing the area northeast of Kyigon by March 26. At this time, Honda had relocated his headquarters to Thazi to better coordinate the battle, although his troops had already suffered significant losses. For the next three days, Cowan's tanks and infantry continued to advance along the Mandalay road while the 63rd and 99th Brigades worked to eliminate Naka's artillery units south of Myindawgan Lake. By mid-March, Stopford's relentless pressure had forced the 31st and 33rd Divisions to retreat in chaos. On March 20, organized resistance in Mandalay was finally shattered as the 2nd British Division linked up with the 19th Indian Division. Consequently, the beleaguered Japanese units had no option but to withdraw in disarray towards the Shan Hills to the east. Following the collapse of the 15th Army front, the 33rd Army received orders on March 28 to hold its current positions only long enough to facilitate the withdrawal of the 15th Army. Consequently, while Cowan's units cleared the region north of Meiktila, Honda halted all offensive actions and promptly directed the 18th Division to secure the Thazi-Hlaingdet area. Additionally, the weakened 214th Regiment was tasked with moving to Yozon to support the withdrawal of the 33rd Division, while the 49th and 53rd Divisions were assigned to contain Meiktila to the south. As the battles for Mandalay and Meiktila unfolded, the reinforced 7th Indian Division at Nyaungu faced several intense assaults from General Yamamoto's 72nd Independent Mixed Brigade throughout March, ultimately advancing to Taungtha and clearing the route to Meiktila by the month's end. Meanwhile, in northern Burma, the 36th British Division advanced toward Mogok, which fell on March 19, while the 50th Chinese Division approached the Hsipaw area. Interestingly, the Japanese abandoned Hsipaw without resistance but launched a fierce counterattack between March 17 and 20. Ultimately, General Matsuyama had no option but to prepare for a withdrawal south toward Lawksawk and Laihka. At this stage, the 38th Chinese Division resumed its advance to Hsipaw; however, facing strong opposition along the route, they did not arrive until March 24, when the entire Burma Road was finally secured. General Sultan believed this was his final maneuver and recommended relocating the Chinese forces back to the Myitkyina area for air transport back to China, except for those needed to secure the Lashio-Hsipaw region. Additionally, the 36th Division continued its eastward push and eventually linked up with the 50th Division in the Kyaukme area by the end of the month before being reassigned to Slim's 14th Army. Looking south, the 74th Indian Brigade and West African forces advanced toward Kolan, while the 26th Indian Division established a new beachhead in the Letpan-Mae region. The 154th Regiment maintained its position near the Dalet River, preventing the remainder of the 82nd West African Division from joining the offensive. On March 23, General Miyazaki decided to launch an attack on Kolan. Although the assault achieved moderate success, Miyazaki soon recognized that he was outnumbered and opted to begin a final withdrawal toward the An Pass, completing this by the end of the month. Meanwhile, on March 17, the 121st Regiment sent its 3rd Battalion to engage the enemy in the Sabyin area and hold their position along the Tanlwe River for as long as possible. Despite strong resistance from the Japanese, British-Indian forces managed to cross the Tanlwe by March 27 and successfully captured Hill 815 two days later. By March 30, the 22nd East African Brigade had also reached Letpan when High Command decided to relieve the units of the 26th Division and return them to India. In a related development, tensions were rising in French Indochina, where the local government refused to permit a Japanese defense of the colony. By early March, Japanese forces began redeploying around the main French garrison towns in Indochina. The Japanese envoy in Saigon Ambassador Shunichi Matsumoto declared to Governor Admiral Jean Decoux that since an Allied landing in Indochina was inevitable, Tokyo command wished to put into place a "common defence" of Indochina. Decoux however resisted stating that this would be a catalyst for an Allied invasion but suggested that Japanese control would be accepted if they actually invaded. This was not enough and Tsuchihashi accused Decoux of playing for time. On 9 March, after more stalling by Decoux, Tsuchihashi delivered an ultimatum for French troops to disarm. Decoux sent a messenger to Matsumoto urging further negotiations but the message arrived at the wrong building. Tsuchihashi, assuming that Decoux had rejected the ultimatum, immediately ordered commencement of the coup. The 11th R.I.C. (régiment d'infanterie coloniale) based at the Martin de Pallieres barracks in Saigon were surrounded and disarmed after their commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Moreau, was arrested. In Hue there was sporadic fighting; the Garde Indochinoise, who provided security for the résident supérieur, fought for 19 hours against the Japanese before their barracks was overrun and destroyed. Three hundred men, one third of them French, managed to elude the Japanese and escape to the A Sầu Valley. However, over the next three days, they succumbed to hunger, disease and betrayals - many surrendered while others fought their way into Laos where only a handful survived. Meanwhile, General Eugène Mordant led opposition by the garrison of Hanoi for several hours but was forced to capitulate, with 292 dead on the French side and 212 Japanese. An attempt to disarm a Vietnamese garrison ended badly for the Japanese when 600 of them marched into Quảng Ngãi. The Vietnamese nationalists had been armed with automatic weapons supplied by the OSS parachuted nearby at Kontum. The Japanese had been led to believe that these men would readily defect but the Vietnamese ambushed the Japanese. Losing only three killed and seventeen wounded they inflicted 143 killed and another 205 wounded on the Japanese before they too were overcome. A much larger force of Japanese came the next day but they found the garrison empty. In Annam and Cochinchina only token resistance was offered and most garrisons, small as they were, surrendered. Further north the French had the sympathy of many indigenous peoples. Several hundred Laotians volunteered to be armed as guerrillas against the Japanese; French officers organized them into detachments but turned away those they did not have weapons for. In Haiphong the Japanese assaulted the Bouet barracks: headquarters of Colonel Henry Lapierre's 1st Tonkin Brigade. Using heavy mortar and machine gun fire, one position was taken after another before the barracks fell and Lapierre ordered a ceasefire. Lapierre refused to sign surrender messages for the remaining garrisons in the area. Codebooks had also been burnt which meant the Japanese then had to deal with the other garrisons by force. In Laos, Vientiane, Thakhek and Luang Prabang were taken by the Japanese without much resistance. In Cambodia the Japanese with 8,000 men seized Phnom Penh and all major towns in the same manner. All French personnel in the cities on both regions were either interned or in some cases executed. The Japanese strikes at the French in the Northern Frontier in general saw the heaviest fighting. One of the first places they needed to take and where they amassed the 22nd division was at Lang Son, a strategic fort near the Chinese border. The defences of Lang Son consisted of a series of fort complexes built by the French to defend against a Chinese invasion. The main fortress was the Fort Brière de l'Isle. Inside was a French garrison of nearly 4000 men, many of them Tonkinese, with units of the French Foreign Legion. Once the Japanese had cut off all communications to the forts they invited General Émile Lemonnier, the commander of the border region, to a banquet at the headquarters of the Japanese 22nd Division. Lemonnier declined to attend the event, but allowed some of his staff to go in his place. They were then taken prisoner and soon after the Japanese bombarded Fort Brière de l'Isle, attacking with infantry and tanks. The small forts outside had to defend themselves in isolation; they did so for a time, proving impenetrable, and the Japanese were repelled with some loss. They tried again the next day and succeeded in taking the outer positions. Finally, the main fortress of Brière de l'Isle was overrun after heavy fighting. Lemonnier was subsequently taken prisoner himself and ordered by a Japanese general to sign a document formally surrendering the forces under his command. Lemonnier refused to sign the documents. As a result, the Japanese took him outside where they forced him to dig a grave along with French Resident-superior (Résident-général) Camille Auphelle. Lemonnier again was ordered to sign the surrender documents and again refused. The Japanese subsequently beheaded him. The Japanese then machine-gunned some of the prisoners and either beheaded or bayoneted the wounded survivors. Lang Son experienced particularly intense fighting, with the 22nd Division relentlessly assaulting the 4,000-strong garrison for two days until the main fortress was captured. The Japanese then advanced further north to the border town of Dong Dang, which fell by March 15. The battle of Lạng Sơn cost the French heavy casualties and their force on the border was effectively destroyed. European losses were 544 killed, of which 387 had been executed after capture. In addition 1,832 Tonkinese colonial troops were killed (including 103 who were executed) while another 1,000 were taken prisoner. On 12 March planes of the US Fourteenth Air Force flying in support of the French, mistook a column of Tonkinese prisoners for Japanese and bombed and strafed them. Reportedly between 400 and 600 of the prisoners were killed or wounded. Nonetheless, the coup was highly successful, with the Japanese subsequently encouraging declarations of independence from traditional rulers in various regions. On 11 March 1945, Emperor Bảo Đại was permitted to announce the Vietnamese "independence"; this declaration had been prepared by Yokoyama Seiko, Minister for Economic Affairs of the Japanese diplomatic mission in Indochina and later advisor to Bao Dai. Bảo Đại complied in Vietnam where they set up a puppet government headed by Tran Trong Kim and which collaborated with the Japanese. King Norodom Sihanouk also obeyed, but the Japanese did not trust the Francophile monarch. Nationalist leader Son Ngoc Thanh, who had been exiled in Japan and was considered a more trustworthy ally than Sihanouk, returned to Cambodia and became Minister of foreign affairs in May and then Prime Minister in August. In Laos however, King Sisavang Vong of Luang Phrabang, who favoured French rule, refused to declare independence, finding himself at odds with his Prime Minister, Prince Phetsarath Ratanavongsa, but eventually acceded on 8 April. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. March 1945, saw US forces advance in Luzon, overcoming Japanese defenses through strategic maneuvers, while guerrilla activities intensified amid challenging terrain and heavy resistance. Meanwhile, in Burma, British-Indian forces advanced against Japanese troops, capturing key locations and in French Indochina the Japanese unleashed a brutal coup d'etat ushering in independence movements.
Mon, 22 Jan 2024 05:40:00 GMTFrançois Bouet François Bouet nonofull04:0026
Fri, 19 Jan 2024 12:05:46 GMTFrançois Bouet François Bouet nonofull04:00
Tout le monde connaît le LM002, qui vient de trouver un successeur avec l'Urus. Un modèle totalement hors du commun, témoin d'une époque où tout semblait possible. Mais saviez vous que cet énorme 4×4 s'est illustré en compétition ? Aussi fou que cela puisse paraître, un jour certains se sont dit qu'il pourrait gagner le Dakar... Pour retrouver cet article, les photos et vidéos qui lui sont associés allez sur www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/liste Texte Nicolas Laperruque, lecture François Bouet
Jacques Pessis reçoit Rémi Bouet. Il a créé le fan club officiel de Johnny avec la complicité du rocker lui-même. Johnny nous a quitté voici exactement 6 ans. Il le raconte dans un livre truffé [...]
Paul Bouet est docteur en architecture, titulaire d'un master à l'École d'architecture à Paris-Belleville et d'un master en histoire des sciences et des techniques de l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Ses travaux portent sur les histoires croisées de l'architecture et de l'environnement au 20e siècle, avec un accent particulier sur les questions d'adaptation au climat, l'émergence des théories environnementalistes et l'esthétique des dispositifs énergétiques. Quelles bifurcations peut-on imaginer dans l'enseignement d'architecture ? — Le conseil lecture de Paul : Architecture et volupté thermique, Lisa Heschong, 1981 Propos recueillis par Cyril Veillon. Production: Archizoom / Direction artistique et montage: Marie Geiser / Jingle et musique: Cédric Liardet
durée : 00:16:47 - C'est bientôt demain - par : Antoine CHAO - Travailler les possibles #1 D'autres pratiques agricoles sont nécessaires pour préserver notre planète, sa biodiversité et nos conditions de vie sur celle-ci ! Il faut créer deux, trois, plusieurs Jardins de Bouet pour sortir de l'agro-industrie.
Maxime Bouet est l'invité d'Antoine Besson, ce lundi dans Bistrot Vélo. Le coureur français de 36 ans (5 victoires) effectue sa dernière saison dans le peloton professionnel, en cette année 2023. Membre de la formation Arkéa-Samsic, il espère devenir directeur sportif.Celui qui est surnommé "le blond" partage des anecdotes savoureuses (18:48) et note le style d'autres cyclistes, avec une bonne humeur contagieuse (29:44). Nos consultants Jacky Durand et Steve Chainel sont concernés… Bonne écoute. Réalisation : Simon Farvacque - Visuels : Marko Popovic.Vous pouvez réagir à cet épisode sur notre page Twitter Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.
Der in Halle geborene Maler und Musiker Christoph Bouet studierte an der Burg Giebichenstein und arbeitet vorwiegend im Freien – am liebsten in Ahrenshoop. Über seine Kunst und das Meer spricht er mit Julia Hemmerling.
Eric et Francois nous parlent du livre de francois sur l'histoire du Range Rover, anecdotes, catalogues, publicités, 240 pages et 2,2 kg de beau et gros papier. a commander avec de nombreux cadeaux sur www.alifeinrangerover.com ( page web de l'épisode)
Eric et Francois nous parlent du livre de francois sur l'histoire du Range Rover, anecdotes, catalogues, publicités, 240 pages et 2,2 kg de beau et gros papier. a commander avec de nombreux cadeaux sur www.alifeinrangerover.com ( page web de l'épisode)
Eric et Francois nous parlent du livre de francois sur l'histoire du Range Rover, anecdotes, catalogues, publicités, 240 pages et 2,2 kg de beau et gros papier. a commander avec de nombreux cadeaux sur www.alifeinrangerover.com ( page web de l'épisode)
Tout le monde connaît le LM002, qui vient de trouver un successeur avec l'Urus. Un modèle totalement hors du commun, témoin d'une époque où tout semblait possible. Mais saviez vous que cet énorme 4×4 s'est illustré en compétition ? Aussi fou que cela puisse paraître, un jour certains se sont dit qu'il pourrait gagner le Dakar... Pour retrouver cet article, les photos et vidéos qui lui sont associés allez sur www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/liste Texte Nicolas Laperruque, lecture François Bouet
Vous adorez déguster le chocolat ? Vous l'appréciez toutes ses formes, mais savez-vous au juste comment le chocolat est fabriqué ? Torréfaction, broyage, conchage, tempérage : pas moins de 4 opérations sont nécessaires pour faire parler la fève de cacao et voir les graines d'une cabosse devenir chocolat. Fabriquer du chocolat est un art de précision et de subtilité. Chaque étape repose sur un savoir-faire, un équilibre entre technique et alchimie des arômes, une succession de gestes qui fait appel à l'audace et au doigté. Pour saisir toutes les subtilités de la magie du chocolat, pas de cours magistral, mais une leçon savoureuse avec Régis Bouet, maître chocolatier qui se consacre depuis trente cinq ans à sa passion pour le chocolat. Celui qui a mis au point plus de 300 recettes de chocolat et formé plus de 6000 personnes à travers le monde nous livre en toute simplicité ses secrets. Pour découvrir le savoir-faire de notre invité L'atelier de Régis Production : Montage & mixage : Ethiquable Musique : Sapajou Intencion Pour aller plus loin : Feuilletez notre carnet d'accompagnement à la dégustation de chocolat pure origine : bit.ly/3VBPu3c A propos de la SCOP Ethiquable www.ethiquable.coop Nous suivre sur les réseaux sociaux : Instagram : www.instagram.com/ethiquable/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/Ethiquable Facebook : www.facebook.com/ETHIQUABLE Youtube : www.youtube.com/c/scopethiquable LinkedIn : www.linkedin.com/ethiquable/ Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.
Last time we spoke about the beginning of the Tonkin campaign of 1883-1886. Henri Riviere picked up after Garnier and got himself killed on the Paper bridge. In the face of a unauthorized and failed Tonkin Campaign, that should have been the nail in the coffin. But a new administration took hold in France and they were certainly more gung-ho about colonizing southeast asia. General Bouet picked up after Riviere, but he was met with some failure and uninspiring victories. He quit his job and it fell to Admiral Courbet to continue France's campaign to take all of Tonkin. However to defeat the Black Flag Army of Liu Yongfu was a tricky thing as the Qing were covertly supporting them. France had to decide if she would continue, for if she did it might mean another war against the Qing dynasty. #44 The Sino-French War of 1884-1885 part 1: Battle of Fuzhou Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Admiral Courbet just received reinforcements in the form of 10,000 men, 6 gunboats and orders to attack Liu Yongfu and the Black Flag regardless of how it might drag the Qing dynasty into war. The Black Flag Army had set up camp in the fortified city of Son Tay which lay a few km's south of the red river. The city fort was in a pentagonal formation with walls 11 feet high, surrounded by a deep moat and within the center was a citadel. The french scouts estimated the fort had well over 100 cannons, this was not going to be a walk in the park as they say. Liu Yongfu and the Black Flag Army knew the French would approach Son Tay from the east using their gunboats along the Red River. This was because the Black Flat had hired european engineers in advance to convert the town north of Son Tay blocking its approach into a impregnable strongpoint. Large dykes, water filled ditches, bamboo palisades and trenches surrounded it and offered the Black Flag Army extremely well positioned defensive lines. Thus to take a northern route meant the French would have to take Phu Sa. Liu Yongfu had roughly 3000 veteran Black Flag soldiers , 7000 local vietnamese troops led by Prince Hoang Ke Viem and an additional 1000 Qing troops led by Tang Zhiong. Hoang Ke Viem's men manned the citadel, Tang Zhiong's were inside the city and the walls and field were Black Flag Army's responsibility. On the other side, Admiral Courbet deployed 9000 of his men for the campaign against Son Tay, distributed into two columns led by Colonel Belin and Bichot. Belin would lead 3300 men consisting of 2 Turco battalions, 1 marine battalion, some Cochinchinese riflemen, 1 foreign legion battalion, 3 marine artillery batteries and 800 Tonkinese rifleman. Bichot's group consisted of 3 marine battalions, some Cochinchinese riflemen, a fusilier-marins battalion and 3 artillery batteries. Both columns departed from Hanoi on December 11th. Bichot's group were transported up the Red River by the 6 gunboats and made it ashore on the western bank of the Day River, where they secured a pathway for Belin's column to march. By December 13th both columns met up 5 km's away from the forward defensive lines of Son Tay. On December 14th the French advanced from the east towards the Phu Sa positions, beating back some Black Flag sorties against their flanks. They opened fire with their artillery for 2 hours upon the Phu Sa gun placements. Then 2 forward battalions seized the most forward defensive position at Phu Sa, but from there they found no way to keep pushing forward. During this action the French had 68 men dead and around 250 wounded. Thus in a single day Courtbet had lost more men that Bouet or Riviere in all their battles put together. Liu Yongfu hoped to exploit the French losses by ordering a night raid. This however turned into a disaster and not only did he loss many men to the combat, others began to abandon Phu Sa, fleeing for Son Tay. On the 16th Courbet ordered the men to try and prod Son Tay from the northwest. The French artillery softened up the defense before Coubet personally rode out to the forward position well within the Black Flag Army's fire range. Courbet led the men to attack the western gate of Son Tay which was demolished by artillery and explosives. Li Yongfu's men quickly withdrew into the citadel as the French stormed into the city. By this point it seems Liu Yongfu knew it was too dangerous to defend the city so he ordered his men to evacuate under the cover of darkness. The French had suffered 83 deaths and a few hundred wounded while the Black Flag were estimated to have nearly 1000 killed and another 1000 wounded if French sources are ever to be believed. The Vietnamese and Chinese troops had evacuated well in advance of the French storming the city and thus played only a minor role in the battle. Now the terrible losses the Black Flag did incur had significant consequences going forward. Liu Yongfu felt his men had intentionally been tossed to the lions by the Chinese and Vietnamese and he determined going forward that he would not again expose his army so openly. Liu Yongfu took his army from Son Tay over to Bac Ninh. Now at this point Admiral Courbet officially handed command of the land forces over to General Charles Thoedore Millot. Millot would take command of the 10,000 man force which included 2 Brigade commanders who had recently made their marks so to say in history. General Louis Briere de L'isle, the former governor of Senegal commanded the 1st brigade and the 2nd brigade was commanded by Foreign Legion general Francois de Negrier who had quelled an Arab rebellion in Algeria. Now in Bac Ninh the 3000 strong Black Flag Army would have very powerful allies. The Qing governor of Guangxi province, Xu Yanxu was commanding over 20,000 Qing forces with his subordinates Zhao Wo and Huang Guilan. The soldiers were veterans of the Anhui and Xiang armies, ie; Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan's old forces. Half of the Qing forces were deployed along the Mandarin Road southwest of Bac Ninh and the other half were deployed east of Bac Ninh along the Trun son and Dap Cau mountains. General Millot gave each brigade two marching regiments each containing roughly 3 infantry battalions a piece. The 4 commanders of each regiment were Colonels Defoy, Belin, Duchesne and Bertaux-Levillain, interesting last name there haha. Now despite the numerical superiority, the Chinese forces were quite demoralized and Liu Yongfu intentionally was going to keep his Black Flag units out of the real fray of danger, and these factors came out to play in the battle. The two brigades were to approach Bac Ninh from two different locations: the first brigade would depart from Hanoi and the 2nd brigade from Hai Duong. Millot's primary objective was to capture Bac Ninh, but he also hoped to annihilate the Qing forces in the process. To manage this he planned to seize some river crossing around Bac Ninh so the Qing forces would be unable to escape. These crossing were found north of Bac Ninh at Dap Cau and Phu Cam which led to Lang Son and Thai Nguyen respectively. On March 6th, the 1st brigade were ferried from Hanoi up the Red River to land just due south of some Qing defensive lines along the Mandarin Road. On land the 1st brigade marched along the northern bank to head southeast of Bac Ninh to a village called Chi. Meanwhile the 2nd brigade advanced from Hai Duong going along the southern bank to Song Cau where they attacked some Qing forward positions at Do Son and Ne Ou. While the 2nd brigade met the enemy on land, their gunboat support went around behind the Qing lines close to Phu Lang to begin bombarding them. Upon seeing the French gunboats positioning, the Qing forward units made a withdrawal to Bac Ninh. This allowed the 2nd brigade to occupy some minor forts and gradually move towards Chi to meet up with the 1st brigade. The 2 brigades united and advanced upon Bac Ninh by March 12th. Forces of the 1st brigade pushed the Qing out of Trung Son while forces of the 2nd brigade seized the village of Xuan Hoa. The Qing made little resistance at these outpost, basically abandoning them when the French came into visual proximity. Then at 4pm the 2nd brigade alongside their gunboat support attacked Dap Cau just east of Bac Ninh. The arrival of the French at Dap Cau threatened the Qing's left defensive lines. The Qing's escape routes to Lang Son were being severed off by the seizure of Xuan Hoa, Lang Buoi and now Dap Cau. Thus the only concern the Qing commanders were thinking of was how to quickly withdraw their men to Lang Son before the roads were completely cut off. The Qing resistance began to collapse as a result, morale had dropped and many were routing. The French regimental commanders saw the Qing's left flank were breaking and believed they could encircle a large part of the Qing forces. At 5pm the French commanders noticed the Qing flag still flew atop the citadel tower at Bac Ninh, but between the city, Dap Cau and Trung Son all that could be seen was fleeing Qing soldiers. The 2nd brigade attacked Bac Ninh the next morning, capturing large sums of ammunition and curiously enough fully functioning modern Krupp artillery pieces that looked so pristine, they figured none had even fired a shot. Without waiting for the 1st brigade to come from Trung Son, the 2nd brigade forced their way into the city of Bac Ninh. In the meantime the efforts to encircle the fleeing Qing had been thwarted by tenacious rearguard actions by Qing forces fighting out of Dap Cau. Thus the majority of the Qing forces were able to escape north along the banks of the Song Cau river. While the Qing fled the French gunboats bombarded them inflicting heavy casualties. General Millot was nowhere near done trying to trap the escaping Qing forces and send his two brigades after them. The 1st brigade pursued the enemy as far as Thai Nguyen where they inflicted casualties upon the Qing, Vietnamese and Black Flag forces until march 19th. The 2nd brigade annihilated a Qing rearguard force at Phu Lang Thuong and chased a large portion of the Qing right flank as they went to a town called Kep. Millot then called his two brigades to return to Bac Ninh by March 24th. The French state they had 9 deaths and 39 wounded while claiming to have killed 100 enemy units and a few hundred wounded. The defeat of the Qing forces was an enormous embarrassment for the Qing dynasty and thus for its true leader, Empress Dowager Cixi. The Qing court and people of China met the news with shock, mostly because they had heard that for a few months the Black Flag Army had managed to inflict heavy casualties upon the French, but their professional forces had utterly failed. Empress Dowager Cixi in her rage punished several Qing officials, such as the governors of Guangxi and Yunnan, Xu Yanxu and Tang Qiong. Both men were dismissed from their posts, meanwhile the field commanders at the battle of Bac Ninh, General Huang Guilan and Zhao Wu were disgraced. Huang Guilan committed suicide at Lang Son on March 14th as a result of his shame while some of his chief of staff, Chen Degui and Dang Minxuan were beheaded in front of their troops at Lang Son on May 26th. Now before the major losses, the Qing court had been debating the issue of whether or not they should wage a undeclared or declared war against France or keep out of Vietnam completely. The leader of the moderates was Li Hongzhang who sought diplomacy while the leader of the hardliners was Zhang Zhidong who continuously called for full-scale war. After losing Son Tay and now Bac Ninh, Empress Dowager Cixi began to see no other way to solve the situation than diplomacy and thus Zhang Zhidong lost favor and Li Hongzhang won it. Cixi ordered Li Hongzhang to begin talks, which would occur at Tianjin with Captain Francois-Ernest Fournier. The French demanded China withdraw her forces from Vietnam and respect Frances protectorate over Annam and Tonkin. This would mean China was officially relinquishing its suzerainty over Vietnam, which they capitulated. The result was the Tientsin accord of May 11th 1884. To follow this up, 3 weeks later the new French Minister to China Jules Patenotre negotiated a revised treaty of Saigon. It was called the Treaty of Hua, done between France and the Nguyen dynasty which officiated the protecorateship of Annam and Tonkin. In essence it was the stepping stone to simply making Vietnam a colonial possession of France. The treaty was signed on June 6th of 1884 and followed up by a symbolic show where the French melted down a seal that was given to the previous Nguyen Emperor Gia Long by the Qing emperor. Now while the treaty of Hue and the Tientsin Accord should have ended all the conflict, well it did not. No it seems, Mr. Fournier was a bit of a moron when it came to diplomacy and he royally messed up with the Tientsin Accord. The crucial mess up was, while the accord stated the Qing had to withdraw their forces from Vietnam, it never stated a deadline. The French began to demand the Qing withdraw immediately, while the Qing argued they could not withdraw until all minor articles of the said Tientsin Accord were not concluded. Long story short it was a paradox of a situation and the Qing were simply using the accord's other minor issues to maintain their forces where they were. The entire situation was met with uproar from the Chinese public, and this bolstered Zhang Zhidong and the hardliners against Li Hongzhang who began calling for his impeachment. Now as much as I love Li Hongzhang, he sort of messed up during the Tientsin Accord agreement. He hinted to the French the Qing withdrawal would occur, but that it might see a few snags, this was verbally done of course. Thus the French assumed and it was a he said she said type of situation that the Qing forces would immediately withdraw and of course they didn't. Thus on the ground, in early June a French force led by Lt Colonel Alphonse Dugene advanced to seize the cities of Cao Bang, That Khe and Lang Son. His forces formed a long column starting at Phu Lang Thuong as they advanced along the Mandarin Road heading to Lang Son, Phu Xuyen, Kep and Cau Son by June 15th. The march was grueling, it was extremely hot and some flooding made their way difficult as they had to continuously build bridges. They were forced to set up camp around Cau Son and a smaller town called Bac Le for a few days and when they continued their march they began to realize they were being watched by scouts. They sent out advance patrol parties and some of these were fired upon, but they had no way of knowing who was attacking them. It could be Nguyen forces, Qing forces, Black Flags or simple bandits for all they knew. Dugenne intended to continue nonetheless and by June 22nd they were on their way to Lang Son. At this point Dugennes men came up to a river and on the other side were Qing troops. Neither side fired upon another, and Dugenne figured they were stragglers from the Qing forces that fought at Bac Ninh. Thinking they would not oppose him he gave orders to cross the river, but little did he know, on the other side were 4600 Qing soldiers armed with modern arms like rapid-firing Remington rifles. Now both sides were well aware of the Tientsin Accord, but back in China, all the bickering against Li Hongzhang led to no official orders for the men to withdraw from Tonkin. In fact their regimental commander, Wang Debang's last orders were to hold their positions. On June 23rd, an advance guard led by Captain Lecomte crossed the river as some Qing infantry began to take up defensive positions on a hill 250 meters behind the river. The French went over the river unmolested, but as soon as they landed on the other side all hell broke loose. The Qing fired intentionally over their heads to scare them off, but Lecomte reacted by ordering his men to begin flanking the Qing. The French troops charged up the hill as the Qing pulled back, allowing the rest of the French forces to cross the river by 11am. Meanwhile a few hours prior, around 9am, three Qing envoys showed up to Dugenne with letters. The letters were from the Qing commanders in the field explaining to Dugenne, while they understood the Tientsin Accord articles, their officials' last orders were to hold their position so they were in quite a pickle. They requested Dugenne send a message back to Hanoi to seek further instructions. Now Dugenne should have complied with this, but instead he sent word back to the Qing commanders at 3pm stating he would continue his march up the Mandarin road. Allegedly Dugenne did this because he assumed the Qing would just pull to the side and allow his force to pass. Dugenne gave orders to his men not to open fire explicitly unless he ordered them to do so and they marched. For quite some time the march went unmolested until the French were going around the Nui Dong Nai cliffs. Suddenly the Qing forces who had been shadowing the French column open fire upon both their flanks. The French vanguard deployed as best as they could as Dugenne tried to order a bugler to sound a ceasefire call, but it was to no avail. The Qing sounded their own bugles ordered more men to join the battle forcing Dugenne to plan a defense. Now Dugenne was leading 450 French troops and 350 Tonkinese auxiliaries, and to add insult to injury many of his forces were not veteran troops. His men formed a square formation, digging trenches and by the late afternoon had repelled multiple attacks and led some minor counter attacks. During the night the Qing brought forward more forces occupying the heights surrounding the French and in the morning attacked all sides of the French square. Dugenne made several counterattacks, but without significant numbers nor artillery support he knew they would soon be encircled and annihilated. By 11am he ordered a withdrawal to Song Thuong, abandoning the baggage trains and fighting each step they took. Despite the intense situation, the officers managed to keep the men orderly, and the withdrawal was done effectively. General Millot received word of Dugennes plight on June 23rd and immediately dispatched the 2nd brigade to save them. The 2nd brigade reached Dugenne's column near Bac Le on the 27th and set to make a counterattack to repel the Qing forces back to Song Thuong. However just as General Negrier was about to issue orders he received word from Millot ordering him to get everyone back to Hanoi at once. The French had suffered 22 deaths and 70 wounded during the ambush and allege they inflicted 300 casualties upon the Qing. News of what was called the Bac Le Ambush reached France prompting Jules Ferry's government to demand a apology in the form of indemnity payments and immediate implementation of the Tientsin accord from China. The Qing sought to further negotiate, but refused to apologize or pay an indemnity. Negotiations began again, but the mood in both France and China was pure outrage and the sabers of war were rattling. While negotiations were still going on the French government sent orders to Admiral Courbet to take his recently established Far East Squadron to give battle to the Qing navy at Fuzhou. Admiral Courbet's Far East Squadron during late August consisted of 13 ships only a fraction of what it would be a bit later on; He had 5 ironclads on hand though they were all over the place performing missions, there was Bayard his flagship, Sharp, Atalante, Trimphanate and La Galissonniere. He also had cruisers Duguay-Trouin, Villars, D'Estaing, Volta, gunboats Lynx, Aspic, Vipere and two torpedo boats. The Qing Fujian Fleet had 11 western style ships and 11 chinese war junks in the region. The Qing flagship was the wooden corvette Yangwu, followed by scourt-transports: Fupo, Ji'an, Yongbao, Chenhang, Yixin, wooden gunboats: Zhenwei, Fuxiang, Jianshen and Fusheng and 12 Chinese war junks. In terms of crews the French would have 1780 vs 1040 for the Qing. In terms of firepower the French were overwhelming better armed with the Qing having only a few ships that were capable of return fire. Overall command for the Qing was led by imperial commissioner Zhang Peilun. Admiral Courbet arrived at the Fuzhou anchored near the port of Fuzhou on August 22nd, observing the Qing fleet deployed with a northern group of 8 ships and a southern group of 3 ships. Courtbet placed his squadron between these clusters and observed his enemy. The Qing ships were seen to swing with the tides, prompting Courbet to plan for his attack to commence at the top of the tide roughly around 2pm the next day. He deduced the Qing ships would swing away from his fleet presenting their vulnerable sterns. The Qing northern group seemed to be protecting her dockyards while the southern group seemed to be protecting a customs building. Assuming the Qing would not change their formations, Courbet hoped to begin battle at 2pm with his torpedo boats first then cannon fire by the rest. The next day, neither side made any attempt to redeploy or mess with the other and by 1:30pm the French crews were preparing for battle. The Qing seemingly did nothing upon witnessing the French clearly preparing their ships for a fight by 1:45pm, but at 1:55pm Qing mineboats began advancing towards the French ships. Courbet immediately raised flags for attack commencement, 5 minutes before the expected timetable. Torpedo boat no.46 surged forward hitting the Yangwu with a Spar Torpedo. For those of you who don't know what this is, picture a extremely long pole poking infront of your ship with a bomb on its end. The idea is quite simple you rush head first towards an enemy ship jab the pointed pole at the hull of a ship and detonate the bomb on the end using a fuse. Takes a lot of balls to pull this off to be sure. The bomb damaged Torpedo # 46's boiler and ruptured the hull of Yangwu. Meanwhile Torpedo boat #45 tried to do the same action to Fupo which was less successful in her venture. As the two torpedo boats made their daring escapes under fire the French cruisers and ironclad Triomphante began opening fire. The Yongbao, Feiyun, Fushen, Jiansheng, Ji'an and Chenhang were lit ablaze or sunk from shellfire. Only the Fupo and Yixin survived the onslaught, forced to flee upriver as they were chased by the gunboats, Lynx, Vipere and Aspic. The Zhenwei received a shell hit from Triomphante causing a large explosion. Before the carnage had unfolded, the Qing had concentrated their fire upon the Volta, which Courtbet was forced to use as his Flagship as the Bayard did not make it in time for battle. The Qing clearly did this in order to kill Courtbet hoping it would be a decisive victory. Several crew aboard the Volta were killed or wounded, a roundshot smashed through her bridge nearly killing the captain Gigon. By 5pm the fighting had died down, but during the night the Qing made several unsuccessful fireship attacks. The next day Courbet ordered his ships to land some companies ashore to set up explosives to destroy the Fuzhou dockyards, but upon seeing the Qing left infantry to defend them was forced to cancel the plans. Instead he had his fleet begin bombarding the dockyards and outer buildings, but was unable to completely destroy the yards. The ships stayed at anchor another day as the Qing attempted a night torpedo attack as the gunboat Vipere who was anchored on the outside of the formation. Searchlights picked up the torpedo attempts and they were fired upon until they gave up. On August the 25th, Courbet took his forces down the Min River with Triomphante and Duguay-Trouin leading the way. For two days he had his forces bombard some Qing shore batteries defending the approach to Fuzhou followed by forts at the Jinpai pass. In the end the French had 10 deaths, 48 wounded due mostly to sniper fire with two ships receiving light damage. The Qing lost 9 ships completely with the others running aground, severely burnt or damaged in various other ways. The estimated death toll was estimated to be between 2000-3000. The Qing put up a memorial shortly after the war commemorating a list of 831 sailors and soldiers killed on the 23rd, but the list does not include deaths incurred during the Min River voyage. The captain of the flagship Yangwu, had abandoned his ship prematurely and was beheaded later for cowardice. Countless men lost their jobs, like the governor-general of Fujian and Zhejiang He Jing, the governor of Fujian Zhang Zhaotong and the director general of the Fuzhou dock yard He Ruzhang. Zhang Peilun who made no significant effort to direct the Fujian Fleet was degraded and replaced by our old friend General Zuo Zongtang. The battle of Fuzhou, put simply was a shitshow for the Qing. There were numerous factors that led to the humiliating defeat. A major factor was Germany making excuses not to send the new Dingyuan and Zhenyuan over in time. Also the Fujian Fleet received absolutely zero help from the other fleets despite Zhang Peilun pleading for help from the Beiyang Fleet, Nanyang Fleet and Guangdong fleet, even with direct orders from Empress Dowager Cixi in hand. These fleets all had respective commanders who were loathe to see any of their assets damaged and thus held back. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Incompetency and corruption led to a huge loss at the battle of Fuzhou. Now the Qing dynasty had really gotten herself into a mess and a full scale war with France was only beginning and about to get a whole lot worse.
Last time we spoke about Francis Garnier and his wild expedition in Vietnam. Yes against all his superiors orders, Garnier decided to grab a few of the boys and sail up river to threaten and steal territories for France. He first struck at the grand city of Hanoi, taking it much to the shock of the Nguyen officials. But he did not stop there oh no, he then set his eyes upon the provinces of Hung Yen and Phu Ly. Both were taken with shockingly small forces, but Garnier strived for even more and dispatched a force to take Hai Duong. Then he found out the Vietnamese at Ninh Binh were forming an army to fight him so he attacked it. This greatly pissed off the Vietnamese and their Black Flag Army allies who attacked Hanoi and in the process Garnier died charging into the enemy like a madman. Today we continue the story of how France colonized Indochina. #43 The Tonkin Campaign Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Now last we spoke, Henri Riviere basically took up the mantle of Francis Garnier and began to seize territory in Tonkin against his nation's wishes. That was of course until the government changed and the new administration led by Jules Ferry were very pro colonization and immediately supported Riviere. Now Rivieres actions had caused a real maestrum for the Nguyen empire. Liu Yongfu went to Hanoi and slapped a note against the citadel on March 26th of 1883 threatening to kill Henri Riviere, taunting the french into battle. This scared the hell out of the Nguyen court who expected Riviere to unleash hell so they ordered prince Hoang Ke Viem to go seek out the Black Flag Army to see what could be done. Hoang Ke Viem was sent under the guise he was trying to move the Black Flag forces away from Hanoi, but Riviere did not buy it at all. Riviere sent a letter to Hanoi's military commander Hoang Dieu, demanding he submit or get rid of the Black Flags, otherwise he would yet again attack Hanoi. Hoang Dieu simply stated it was impossible for him to do so. Thus Riviere and his forces occupied Hanoi by April 26th, further stressing out the Nguyen court who desperately sent envoys to negotiate with France. Meanwhile Hoang Ke Viem saw the paint on the wall and began to mobilize forces in the northern provinces for war. During the negotiations with the French, Riviere demanded the French be allowed to garrison at Son Tay, but the Nguyen court said they could not, it was in fact because the Black Flags were there. Rivier took this as an act of hostility and began to suspect Hoang Ke Viem was working directly with the Black Flags. Things were however not looking good for Riviere, he had very limited forces and was forced to go on the defensive. The Nguyen court then ordered Hoang Ke Viem to write a letter to the French in Hanoi to officially explain the role of the Black Flags, in the vain hope of regaining Hanoi free of conflict. Despite all of this Hoang Ke Viem and the Black Flags mobilized for battle. On March 28th, in response to Liu Yongfu's taunting, Riviere elected to go out and fight the enemy. Why would he do this with basically under 500 men against thousands? According to the French, Riviere was forced to do so to protect the prestige of France, so he led a column of 450 troops out of Hanoi's citadel to face the Black Flag Army who had taken a position in Phy Hoai, just a few miles away. His force was soon discovered by Liu Yongfu's scouts who set up an ambush at a village called Cau Giay. Within this village was a bridge, known to the french as Pont de Papier “Paper bridge”. The Black Flag forces hid themselves west of the bridge in the village of Trung Thong, Thien Thong and Ha Yen Ke. These 3 smaller villages were covered in thick bamboo groves and trees making them excellent spots to perform an ambush. The French column reached the Paper bridge around 7:30am led at the ron by the Chef de Bataillon Berthe de Villers. As they crossed the bridge, the French vanguard was suddenly fired upon by Black Flag troops prompting Berthe de Villers to deploy his men into a line formation and push forward towards the 3 villages. Liu Yongfu waited for the enemy line to fully commit, then tossed in his reserves, launching a sudden flank attack to the French's right. The Black Flag flank's volleys caused tremendous casualties upon the french, mortally wounding Berthe de Villers, forcing Riviere to assume direct command of the column. To avoid encirclement, Riviere ordered his men to pull back and regroup on the other side of Paper bridge. The retreat was conducted initially in good order, being covered by artillery support, but then disaster struck. Suddenly their artillery cannons overturned by the force of their recoil fire, prompting Riviere and some officers to rush forward to help the gunners allowing the Black Flag to unleash some deadly volleys. The volley's killed some French officers and wounded Riviere, and upon seeing this the Black Flag Soldiers surged forward to attack the French rearguard. During the mayhem Riviere was killed, and almost complete catastrophe occurred for the French forces, until Lt De Vaisseau Pissere took command and pulled the men to the eastern side of the bridge. The Black Flag were finally pushed back and the French column was forced to limp back to Hanoi. The French had lost 5 officers, 30 men and had 55 wounded. The Black Army were estimated to have lost 50 dead and perhaps 50 wounded out of a total of 1500 men. In the greater scheme of things, it was a small battle, but it had a significant effect. Aside from the loss of face for France and death of Riviere, it prompted action from the new government of France. Jules Ferry's administration received word of the loss and Rivieres death on May 26th and it was met with outrage. French Naval minister Admiral Peyron declared “'France will avenge her glorious children!' His words would be echoed in the Chamber of Deputies for they immediately tossed 3.5 million france to finance a punitive expedition to Tonkin. The Tonkin Expeditionary corps were established in June of 1883 sent primarily to pacify Tonkin. They were led by General de Brigade Alexandre-Eugene Bouet, the most senior marine infantry officer close on hand, that being in Cochinchina. Bouet began his new mission by changing the attire of his forces, introduced lightweight black pyjama style summer uniforms, with some added black cloth to cover their white pith helmets. The idea behind this was simple, try not to stand out like a sore thumb so much in the jungle. Bouet arrived to Tonkin to find their position pretty precarious. The French only had small garrisons in Hanoi, Nam Dinh, Haiphong and very isolated small outposts in Hon Gai and Qui Nhon. Thus for the month of June he had the men dig in and perform defensive actions, sporadically being harassed by Vietnamese and Black Flag forces. Bouet needed to wait for reinforcements and decided to hire some local Yellow Flags. I have not mentioned them, but the Yellow Flag's were basically the same type of force as the Black FLag's, Chinese bandits who crossed over the border after the Taiping Rebellion. The Vietnamese government initially began to support the Yellow Flags to fight off the Black Flags, but as time went on the Black Flag's pretty much beat the shit out of the Yellow flags, excuse my French. Bouet would allegedly hire 800 Yellow Flag members to augment his forces. In late july Bouet received reinforcements when Admiral Amedee Courtbet arrived to Ha Long Bay giving the French around 2500 infantry, 6 gunboats and some artillery pieces to work with. Bouet knew with these forces he could perform some offensive campaigns against the Black Flag Army, but he also was under orders to push for a political settlement with the Nguyen empire to recognize the French protectorate in Tonkin. Bouet and Courtbet met with Jules Harmand the new civil commissioner general for Tonkin to discuss war plans. The 3 men agreed that Bouet should launch an offensive against the Black Flag Army in Phu Hoai as a first action. They also noted that Rivieres suspicions about the Nguyen working with the Black Flags covertly was most likely true, therefore they decided to also strike against the Vietnamese forces as well. This was a significant escalation as attacking the Nguyen army forces could provoke the Qing dynasty. The first thing to be done was sail up the Hue river, but in order to do so the French would need to seize the Thuan An forts guarding its entrance. Admiral Courtbet took his flagship Bayard out on august 16th to scout the forts while his flotilla assembled. Courtbet would have the ironclad Bayard and Atalante, the cruiser Chateaurenault and gunboats Vipere, Lynx and armed transport Drac and Annamite. On August the 18th the flotilla got into position at the entrance of the Hue river. A delegation was sent in advance to the Nguyen officials to demand the surrender of the forts, but the fort commander declined to respond. At 5:40pm the French ships began to open fire, met by return fire from the forts. The bombardment lasted only an hour, until it got dark and the ships had to turn on their electric searchlights to illuminate the forts. Dawn the next day the ships recommenced bombardment devastating the forts, though the Nguyen return fire did manage to strike their ships a few times. On August the 20th, 2 marine companies were landed near the northern fort led by Captain Parrayon of the ship Bayard. The Vietnamese trench line troops fired upon the invaders. After and hour of fighting, Parrayon seized the northern fort and raised the French flag. After taking this fort the French turned their attention to the southern fort and began to bombard it and prepared marines to land. It was all for nothing however as the defenders had abandoned the fort and nearby village while the northern fort was under attack. The casualties for the Nguyen forces were heavy, with some outrageous estimates ranging up to 2000. Enseigne de vaisseau Louis-Marie-Julian Viaud served under Admiral Courbet aboard the Atalante and he wrote extensively of the Tonkin campaign under the pen name Pierre Loti. He wrote about the battle of Thuan An, giving accounts of atrocities committed by the French forces. He would later be recalled by the French navy and suspended from duty for publishing such works, here is a passage about the aftermath of the battle “The great slaughter now began. Our men fired double volleys, and it was a pleasure to see their streams of well-aimed bullets shredding the enemy ranks, surely and methodically, twice a minute, on the word of command... We could see some men, quite out of their senses, standing up, seized with a dizzy desire to run... They zigzagged, swerving this way and that way as they tried to outrun death, clutching their garments around their waists in a comical way... Afterwards, we amused ourselves by counting the dead…” Pierre Loti spoke of how the French marines took pleasure bayoneting wounded Vietnamese troops, slaughtering the clearly outgunned men. The seizure of the forts shocked the Nguyen court and an 48 hour armistice was quickly agreed upon. The Nguyen court agreed immediately to evacuate 12 inland forts defending the Hue river, destroyed their ammunition and removed barrages. Jules Harmand sailed up the Hue river to meet directly with the Nguyen court where he threatened them with complete annihilation unless they accepted a French protectorate over both Tonkin and Annam. This is what he said to them “If we wanted to, we could destroy your dynasty root and branch and seize for ourselves the entire kingdom, as we have done in Cochinchina. You know very well that this would present no difficulty to our armies. For a moment, you hoped to find help from a great empire on your borders, which has on several occasions posed as your suzerain. But even if such a suzerainty ever existed, and whatever the consequences that might once have resulted from it, it is now nothing but a historical curiosity. Now here is a fact which is quite certain. You are completely at our mercy. We have the power to seize and destroy your capital and to starve you all to death. It is up to you to choose between war and peace. We do not wish to conquer you, but you must accept our protectorate. For your people, it is a guarantee of peace and prosperity. For your government and your court, it is the only chance of survival. We give you forty-eight hours to accept or reject, in their entirety and without discussion, the terms which we are magnanimously offering you. We believe that there is nothing in them dishonourable to you, and if they are carried out with sincerity on both sides they will bring happiness to the people of Annam. But if you reject them, you can expect to suffer the most terrible of misfortunes. The worst catastrophe you are capable of imagining will fall far short of what will actually befall you. The empire of Annam, its royal dynasty and its princes and court will have voted for their own extinction. The very name of Vietnam will be erased from history.” The Nguyen court, cowed to this on August 25th by signing the Treaty of Hue. The treaty forced the Nguyen empire to recognize the French protector for both Tonkin and Annam. The Nguyen court would survive, but now had to take direction from French advisors. The Nguyen Emperor would be required to take personal audience with the French commissioner general in Tonkin, a unprecedented thing for them. And in return for all of this, the French would drive out the Black Flags, something they were already doing. Now while Admiral Courbet slammed the Nguyen forces at Thuan An, General Bouet led the offensive against Liu Yongfu's Black Flag army. He led 2500 French and Vietnamese troops augmented by a further 450 Yellow Flag members. His force was divided into 3 columns, the left led by Lt Colonel Revillon consisting of marines, Cochinchinese riflement, 2 artillery sections and the Yellow Flag battalion. The central column led by Chef de bataillon Paul Coronnat consisted of a marine battalion, a marine artillery battery and some Cochinchinese riflemen. Finally the right column was led by Colonel Bichot consisting of a marine infantry battalion, a artillery battery and more Cochinchinese riflement. Bichot took his column along the Red river where 6 French gunboats could support his movements. Bouet took a reserve force and marched behind Revillons column as they went to Phu Hoai. Liu Yongfu's Black Flag army consisted of around 3000 men who he had position 2 lines of field fortifications blocking the roads going to Son Tay. The first line was near the village of Cau Giay where Riviere had died on paper bridge and the second was close behind it defending the approach to the villages of Phu Noai, Noi and Hong. As Revillon's left column tried to attack the right side of the Black Flag first line they were quickly counterattacked by Liu Yongfu and the bulk of his forces. Revillons men began to run low on ammunition and performed a fighting withdrawal towards the Paper bridge. As they did so their Vietnamese coolies began to panic, nearly causing a rout. However a marine infantry battalion took up a position in the village of Vong and provided cover fire for the withdrawing forces inflicting heavy casualties upon the Black Flag army units who had left their defensive line to pursue them out in the open field. As night was approaching, Bouet tossed his reserves in enabling Revillon to stabilize a line. During the evening, Bouet had not received word from the other 2 columns thus he ordered Revillons column to pull back to Hanoi. It turned out the other 2 columns had failed to apply enough pressure on the Black Flag line of defenses allowing Liu Yongfu to toss nearly the kitchen sink at Revillons force who were simply more isolated. Coronet's center column had no even made contact with the enemy at all while Bichots column captured the village of Trem but then became stuck when they ran into the 2nd black flag defensive line. On the night of the 16th of august, Bichots men advanced on the defensive line only to find out the Black Flag units abandoned it during the night, because while all of this was going on, the Red River had begun flooding on august the 15th. The Black Flag army knew more so about the flooding situation in the area and had slowly pulled out. Bichot meanwhile was simply content with occupying their abandoned line and decided not to pursue the enemy which was a huge mistake as the black flag army was actually in quite a disarray from the flooding. The battle of Phu Hoai as it became known resulted in 17 deaths and 62 wounded for the French and perhaps a few hundred deaths and many hundred wounded black flag units. Though the Black Flag army took very heavy casualties, the fact was they had stopped the french advance and thus won a victory. This led to local Tonkinese officials to be quite wary over who was going to win the conflict. Now the flooding forced the Black Flag to pull back behind the Day River. They took up new positions around the villages of Phong which lay on the road going to Son Tay and the village of Palan which lay at the junction of the Red and Day rivers. Bouet resolved to attack the black flags again, so now he took his French, Cochinchinese and Yellow flag forces alongside 6 gunboats to hit the village of Palan. On August the 31st he began his offensive by using his gunboats to bombard the village and sent a French battalion to storm Palan. The village was taken with ease as the Black Flag units fled along the dykes away. Then the next day Bouet's column marched towards Phong along the 2 meter wide dykes running along the bank of the Day River. The column made it 3 kms from Palan where they ran into 1200 or so Black Flag units supported by over 3000 Vietnamese. The Black Flag units were armed with many modern Winchester rifles fighting tenacious giving little ground. The Vietnamese forces meanwhile were not making much of an active resistance and instead beat gongs, drums and made war chants, perhaps sitting on the fence so to say. As the French column pressed forward the Black flags began to pull back to a central defensive line behind earthen works and dykes. Li Yongfu had his HQ in a small pagoda and around his central command were hidden artillery positions well camouflaged. As the French approached the earthen works and dykes the artillery began to fire off causing heavy casualties amongst the French. The French were unable to locate where all the fire was coming from, prompting Bouet to order his gunboats to come closer to bombard the area. However the gunboat shells were soaked by rain and many were failing to explode causing little damage. Eventually Bouet ordered an assault upon the enemy's center. The column marched into a flooded rice paddy wading up to their breast in water and holding their rifles above their heads. The Black Flags from their concealed positions rained hell upon them. Despite the carnage the French pressed forward forcing the defenders to give way from intense fire and soon the Black Flag right wing collapsed towards the center. The French forces took advantage and began charging upon the enemy causing a rout as the Black Flag army fled. The french had roughly 16 dead with almost 50 wounded while the Black flags left 60 dead on the battlefield and probably had several hundred more dead and wounded carried off. Bouets men tried to keep orderly conduct, but apparently the Yellow Flag units went around cutting off heads from the corpses and plundering peaceful nearby Vietnamese villages, so Bouet disbanded them. Liu Yongfu retained his army despite the tactical victory for the French, thus from the point of view of his superiors, Bouet had failed. Bouet resigned in early september as a result and would be replaced by Lt Colonel Anicet-Edmon-Justin Bichot, the next high ranking officer in Tonkin. His tenure would be short lived however and consisted of little more than reconnaissance actions, though during these his men did find the remains of Henri Riviere, whose mutilated body had been buried near the village of Kien Mai. From that point on France decided to give Admiral Courbet command over the expeditionary forces. Courbet would receive significant reinforcements in the form of over 10,000 men led by General Charles Theodore Millot. Courbet was instructed to uphold the primary mission, to annihilate the Black Flag army of Liu Yongfu. However things were about to get a whole lot messier. The Black Flag army had fled to the fortified city of Son Tay and the French had gradually figured out they were being supported by the Qing dynasty. The French had discovered the Qing had sent a large amount of troops over the border pretending to be Black Flag army units. French foreign minister Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour had met with the Qing minister Zeng Jize in Paris multiple times in 1883. He attempted to get the Qing to withdraw their covert forces who were garrisoning cities like Bac Ninh, Lang Son and Son Tay. The Qing refused and continuously made excuses. The French tried to speak to the German government to delay their recent sale of the battleships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan to the Qing to pressure them, only to be met with anti-french protests within China. Riots and minor attacks began against French held concessions in Guangzhou. The French knew, to attack the Black Flag Army further would most likely see a war break out with the Qing. France's military planners decided if they could launch a lightning storm campaign against the rest of Tonkin and seize it quickly enough, the Qing would likely back down. Thus in december of 1883 Admiral Courbet received authorization to launch a campaign against Liu Yongfu and the Black Flag Army, knowing full well it would probably result in an undeclared war against the Qing dynasty. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The French kept allowing officers to stir up trouble in Vietnam leading to the Tonkin Campaign. Now France was stuck in a war against the Nguyen Empire, the Black Flag Army of Liu Yongfu and soon the Qing dynasty would join in the fun.
Pour ID Logistics, c'est le client qui prime. Ainsi l'organisation doit s'adapter, réagir rapidement et avec agilité pour apporter la meilleure réponse possible. Renaud Bouet nous explique ce qu'implique un tel fonctionnement en termes RH et innovation.
Où l'on se raconte des anecdotes autours de Scooter Lambretta et Vespa ( 3''29), un Cushman ( 10'25), une Volvo 345 (13"45), un rêve en Mercedes ( 15"10), une Maserati Karif ( 17"52), une Jeep military ( 24"00), grosse bourre en bécane à Paris ( 27"40), Stage de pilotage moto avec JC Chemarin ( 36"10)
Thu, 02 Mar 2023 19:28:29 GMTFrançois Bouet François Bouet nonofull03:38
L'associació el Bou de Valls escalfa motors entre els més petits de la ciutat fent una visita als centres educatius de primària que han volgut obrir les seves portes. L'entitat ja ha visitat la Candela i l'Eladi Homs, i en breu també farà parada al Claret i a l'Enxaneta. El Bouet a les escoles pretén […]
Tout peut arriver avec une Lotus Elise, surtout quand on l'achète à distance en UK. Voici donc deux histoires d'achats de Lotus Elise.
There is an invitation into more… more of discovering who you are and who you are to be for your tribe. We need each other to go where the Father is taking us, into what no eye has ever seen and no ear has ever heard. We are one people, becoming one sound.
200 km/h de moyenne sur le périphérique parisien en Alpina b7 Pour retrouver cet article, les photos et vidéos qui lui sont associés allez sur www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/liste photos et texte à retrouver sur www.histo-auto.com rubrique Road-Story Lecture François Bouet, texte Milou
Vous allez retrouver dans cette rubrique des histoires d'achats, pour beaucoup en Angleterre mais aussi partout en Europe. Bien moins qu'un long descriptif des véhicules, de leurs défauts ou de leurs remises en état, une longue liste d'anecdotes et de rencontres toujours sympa. Texte François Bouet , lecture François Bouet Photos et texte à retrouver sur
Christoph Bouet ist ein Phänomen. Als Maler hat sich der Hallenser Künstler schon einen großen Namen gemacht, nun startet er auch musikalisch weiter durch. Nach seinem Debüt-Album "Traces" steht nun mit "Hollywood" sein zweites musikalisches Werk in den Plattenläden. Und das im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes, denn auch dieses Album von Christoph Bouet wird es nur als Vinyl geben. Dafür aber mit phantastischer Aufmachung, einem ausführlichem Booklet sowie einer Grafik + Poster vom Künstler himself. Kürzlich besuchte Christoph Bouet das radio SAW Funkhaus und plauderte mit radio SAW-Moderator Ingolf Kloss über das neue Album und seine kommenden Pläne.
A la fin des années 60 en Europe, acheter une voiture nippone n'est pas un réflexe. C'est même considéré, au mieux comme une excentricité, au pire comme une connerie. Pour marquer le lancement de sa Fronte, et prouver sa fiabilité et ses performances, Suzuki a une idée. Ils organisent un road-trip dont l'objectif est de rouler à fond de Milan à Naples avec la Fronte, dernière nouveauté de la marque. Au volant? Sir Stirling Moss ! Texte Nicolas Laperruque, lecture François Bouet photos et texte à retrouver sur www.histo-auto.com rubrique Road-Story
Aujourd'hui, chers lecteurs je propose de nous replonger en 1990. Restons au chaud pour regarder un chef d'oeuvre du cinéma américain, j'ai nommé “Days of Thunder”. Un film que vous connaissez surement mieux sous le nom de “Jour de tonnerre” si vous habitez plus près de Magny Cours que de Daytona. Gentlemen, start your engines. Pour retrouver cet article, les photos et vidéos qui lui sont associés allez sur www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/liste Texte Nicolas Laperruque, lecture François Bouet
J'ai eu le bonheur de lire cette anecdote sur la page Facebook de Bernard Asset, avec son autorisation et celle de Uwe Mahla, la voici pour vous. Pour retrouver cet article, les photos et vidéos qui lui sont associés allez sur www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/liste Texte François Bouet, lecture François Bouet
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Réalisation d'une émission télé en courant une manche de la Ferrari 355 Cup (3mn06s), le passage du permis en Thailand (8mn10s), des débuts sans permis en Aronde (16mn23s), Du passage du permis avec sa propre DS 21 (20mn10s), toutes ces daubes de Ferrari, Triumph et Tvr (24mn54s), de la difficile vie quotidienne en F430 (26mn23s), comment griller son embrayage de Maserati Quattroporte (29mn32s), un homme qui roulait en Ferrari 308 et Jalpa au quotidien (33mn02s), une belle Mercedes 190 AMG (36mn25s), faire le Brocanteur en R18 BVA (39mn20s), la vraie fiabilité des breaks Volvo (40mn36s), rouler en Ds en Asie (44mn5s), Ferrari 288 en Thailande et voitures de luxe à New York (44mn52s)
A la fin des années 60 en Europe, acheter une voiture nippone n'est pas un réflexe. C'est même considéré, au mieux comme une excentricité, au pire comme une connerie. Pour marquer le lancement de sa Fronte, et prouver sa fiabilité et ses performances, Suzuki a une idée. Ils organisent un road-trip dont l'objectif est de rouler à fond de Milan à Naples avec la Fronte, dernière nouveauté de la marque. Au volant? Sir Stirling Moss ! Texte Nicolas Laperruque, lecture François Bouet photos et texte à retrouver sur www.histo-auto.com rubrique Road-Story
A partir du samedi 19 février, France 3 Normandie diffusera un magazine de 26 minutes consacré aux voitures et motos "vintage". Chaque samedi, retrouvez deux épisodes de "Vroum" à 15h15. Cette émission sur la thématique de l'automobile est une nouveauté au sein du réseau régional de France 3. Son titre : “VROUM” ! pour savoir comment regarder l'émission retrouver la grille par fournisseurs de box internet ici https://www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/1385/portrait-chinois-laurent-quembre-pour-son-emission-vroum-sur-france-3
A partir du samedi 19 février, France 3 Normandie diffusera un magazine de 26 minutes consacré aux voitures et motos "vintage". Chaque samedi, retrouvez deux épisodes de "Vroum" à 15h15. Cette émission sur la thématique de l'automobile est une nouveauté au sein du réseau régional de France 3. Son titre : “VROUM” ! pour savoir comment regarder l'émission retrouver la grille par fournisseurs de box internet ici https://www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/1385/portrait-chinois-laurent-quembre-pour-son-emission-vroum-sur-france-3
A partir du samedi 19 février, France 3 Normandie diffusera un magazine de 26 minutes consacré aux voitures et motos "vintage". Chaque samedi, retrouvez deux épisodes de "Vroum" à 15h15. Cette émission sur la thématique de l'automobile est une nouveauté au sein du réseau régional de France 3. Son titre : “VROUM” ! pour savoir comment regarder l'émission retrouver la grille par fournisseurs de box internet ici https://www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/1385/portrait-chinois-laurent-quembre-pour-son-emission-vroum-sur-france-3
Dès qu'il est question de kitcar, nos regards se tournent naturellement de l'autre côté du channel, chez nos amis Brexiteurs. Pourtant, dans un petit village Gaulois des années 70, deux compères décident de fabriquer leur propre voiture de sport. Un engin singulier disponible monté, ou en kit. Loin de la voiture de Coluche dans l'auto-stoppeur. Pour retrouver cet article, les photos et vidéos qui lui sont associés allez sur www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/liste Texte Nicolas Laperruque, lecture François Bouet
De Tomaso, vous connaissez surement. Mais aujourd'hui on va vous parler du dernier projet de la marque, celui de trop certainement. Quand la vénérable marque italienne de voitures de sport décide de s'allier à un constructeur russe de 4x4, en embarquant avec elle un moteur Iveco, des subventions de l'état et l'importateur des Lada en France. Pour retrouver cet article, les photos et vidéos qui lui sont associés allez sur www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/liste Texte Nicolas Laperruque, lecture François Bouet
C'est une image qui refait régulièrement son apparition sur les réseaux sociaux et sur les pages auto en particulier. On y voit des voitures américaines chargées à la verticale sur des trains. Mais d'où vient cette image? On vous raconte. Pour retrouver cet article, les photos et vidéos qui lui sont associés allez sur www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/liste Texte Nicolas Laperruque, lecture François Bouet
Nous parlons de ce nouveau concept qu'est Grantrofeo, du rallye de régularité en " compétition à distance" avec Guillaume Defoulounoux. A découvrir sur https://en.grantrofeo.com et à retrouver sur https://www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/1372/interview-et-portrait-chinois-de-guillaume-defoulounoux-directeur-des-operations-de-grantrofeo
Nous parlons de ce nouveau concept qu'est Grantrofeo, du rallye de régularité en " compétition à distance" avec Guillaume Defoulounoux. A découvrir sur https://en.grantrofeo.com et à retrouver sur https://www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/1372/interview-et-portrait-chinois-de-guillaume-defoulounoux-directeur-des-operations-de-grantrofeo
Tout le monde connaît le LM002, qui vient de trouver un successeur avec l'Urus. Un modèle totalement hors du commun, témoin d'une époque où tout semblait possible. Mais saviez vous que cet énorme 4×4 s'est illustré en compétition ? Aussi fou que cela puisse paraître, un jour certains se sont dit qu'il pourrait gagner le Dakar... Pour retrouver cet article, les photos et vidéos qui lui sont associés allez sur www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/liste Texte Nicolas Laperruque, lecture François Bouet
La traversée de l'Europe, du Danemark au sud de l'Espagne, pied dedans au volant d'une Mercedes 500 SLC. Pour retrouver cet article, les photos et vidéos qui lui sont associés allez sur www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/liste Texte Jean Loup Nory, Lecture François Bouet
Cette fois ci, je m'intéresse à une Lotus Elise s1. Et comme il n'y a rien de plus amusant que de faire compliqué, je l'ai trouvée en Irlande. Le vendeur à l'air bien sympathique et sa voiture aussi. J'ose croire que l'Irlandais est plus honnête que l'Anglais. Humm l'illusion de la jeunesse. Expérience en elle-même intéressante, où l'on découvre que l'Irlandais est au fond un peu aussi Ecossais quand il s'agit de faire des économies. Texte François Bouet , lecture François Bouet
Cette fois ci, je m'intéresse à une Lotus Elise s1. Et comme il n'y a rien de plus amusant que de faire compliqué, je l'ai trouvée en Irlande. Le vendeur à l'air bien sympathique et sa voiture aussi. J'ose croire que l'Irlandais est plus honnête que l'Anglais. Humm l'illusion de la jeunesse. Expérience en elle-même intéressante, où l'on découvre que l'Irlandais est au fond un peu aussi Ecossais quand il s'agit de faire des économies. Texte François Bouet , lecture François Bouet
Nous nous racontons des anecdotes, où l'on parle d'une Safrane pas très fraiche, d'une TVR350i capricieuse, une BMW série 5 dans la neige, une rencontre trottinette contre péripatéticienne, un achat de Subaru et une Mustang à moteur Wrankel. A retrouver sur https://www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/1332/apero-auto-avec-jean-jacques-robert-jean-baptiste-le-dall-thomas-roux-et-francois-bouet
Nous nous racontons des anecdotes, où l'on parle d'une Safrane pas très fraiche, d'une TVR350i capricieuse, une BMW série 5 dans la neige, une rencontre trottinette contre péripatéticienne, un achat de Subaru et une Mustang à moteur Wrankel. A retrouver sur https://www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/1332/apero-auto-avec-jean-jacques-robert-jean-baptiste-le-dall-thomas-roux-et-francois-bouet
" Le Pilote " avec Fabrice Fournier et Guillaume De Lusigny nous parlons Youngtimer, histoire, marché et bien sur anecdotes autour des modèles représentés à la vente Carprecium du 8 Novembre 2021, avec le détail des autos de la vente sur https://www.carprecium.com/en/ventes.php?p_ventes=75&vpo=1 et retrouver la version vidéo de cette émission https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpsCamwXZVA
" Le Pilote " avec Fabrice Fournier et Guillaume De Lusigny nous parlons Youngtimer, histoire, marché et bien sur anecdotes autour des modèles représentés à la vente Carprecium du 8 Novembre 2021, avec le détail des autos de la vente sur https://www.carprecium.com/en/ventes.php?p_ventes=75&vpo=1 et retrouver la version vidéo de cette émission https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpsCamwXZVA
" Le Pilote " avec Fabrice Fournier et Guillaume De Lusigny nous parlons Youngtimer, histoire, marché et bien sur anecdotes autour des modèles représentés à la vente Carprecium du 8 Novembre 2021, avec le détail des autos de la vente sur https://www.carprecium.com/en/ventes.php?p_ventes=75&vpo=1 et retrouver la version vidéo de cette émission https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpsCamwXZVA
Vous allez retrouver dans cette rubrique des histoires d'achats, pour beaucoup en Angleterre mais aussi partout en Europe. Bien moins qu'un long descriptif des véhicules, de leurs défauts ou de leurs remises en état, une longue liste d'anecdotes et de rencontres toujours sympa. Texte François Bouet , lecture François Bouet Photos et texte à retrouver sur https://www.histo-auto.com/fr/actualite/31/episode-1-mx5-ces-enc-danglais